It’s that time of year yet again, and what an amazing year it’s been for computer enthusiasts. In this episode of the Full Nerd, Gordon Mah Ung, Brad Chacos, Alaina Yee, and Adam Patrick Murray name the best PC hardware of 2017.

These aren’t PCWorld’s formal picks—they’re the opinions of the Full Nerd podcast group alone. We didn’t hold staff-wide meetings or create elaborate Excel spreadsheets full of information about every gizmo reviewed in 2017. Instead, each member of the Full Nerd crew walked into the studio armed with their personal lists of the best hardware in each category, ready to cajole and convince the others to their cause. No one leaves until we’ve named every winner. And in the cases where we couldn’t break a deadlock, we turned to the live audience as the tiebreaker.

The joy of this award show lies in passionate debate, in the group discussion—in the journey. But if you’re interested in the destination alone, here’s a list of Full Nerd’s favorite PC hardware of 2017, complete with a time stamp to where the discussion begins for each category in the video above:

You can also watch the Full Nerd episode 36 on YouTube (toss us a follow while you’re there!) or listen to it on Soundcloud if you prefer the audio alone.

Speaking of audio, you can subscribe to The Full Nerd in iTunes (please leave a review if you enjoy the show). We’re also on Stitcher, Google Play, or you can point your favorite podcast-savvy RSS reader to: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:226190044/sounds.rss

Have a PC- or gaming-related question? Email thefullnerd@pcworld.com and we’ll try to answer it in the next episode, and be sure to follow PCWorld on Facebook or YouTube to watch the show live and pick our brains in real time. Our annual predictions episode will be filmed at 1:30 P.M. Eastern on December 19. We’ll gaze into our crystal balls to guess at what 2018 will bring, and reflect back on last year’s predictions—literally eating our words for any that wound up incorrect. Catch up on what we thought would happen in the video below.

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